The RIP Famous Person Thread

[misskit]

Both Louis Gossett, Jr and M. Emmet Walsh played some outstanding roles.

I couldn’t have told you Walsh’s name was but sure knew his face and remember his acting.

[beachbound]

^
”Die, gas pumper!“

[Happy As Larry]

Drummer Gerry Conway has died aged 76
The Fairport member also played with Cat Stevens, Sandy Denny, Pentangle, John Cale, Richard Thompson and more

Gerry Conway, the drummer best known for his work with Fairport Convention and their wider folk-rock circle, has died at the age of 76.
Conway passed away on Saturday (March 29) after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease two years ago.

Born in Norfolk and brought up in London, he formed Eclection with Trevor Lucas in 1968, and through him came to be a member of Fotheringay, Sandy Denny‘s post-Fairport group.
He was also an in-demand session drummer, and in the ’70s performed on albums by Iain Matthews, John Cale, Steeleye Span, Mike McGear, Shelagh McDonald, Al Stewart, Denny and Cat Stewart, his long association with the latter beginning with 1971’s Teaser And The Firecat and running until the singer-songwriter’s retirement at the end of the decade.

In the 1980s he played with Richard Thompson, Jethro Tull and Pentangle – the latter’s Jacqui McShee his long-term partner – before joining Fairport Convention as a permanent member in 1998, a trifling 25 years after he appeared on three songs on their album Rosie. He remained with the group until he became ill in 2022.

In a warm note to “our dear friend and former drummer” on their website, Fairport wrote: “He brought to the band an impeccable understanding of ‘feel’ and comradeship, a unique sense of subtlety and a complete understanding of what was required.”
Simon Nicol also saluted his “dearest drumming pal”: “Wonderfully patient and wise, infuriatingly tardy (!) but always ready and eager to play, and blessed with his own inner calm and solidity, I’m going to miss him more than I can say.”

Drummer Gerry Conway has died aged 76 - UNCUT

[david44]

Yes Rip here driving the sound outdoor at the annual Cropredy festival



A holiday, a holiday, and the first one of the year
Lord Donald's wife came into the church, the gospel for to hear
And when the meeting it was done, she cast her eyes about
And there she saw little Matty Groves, walking in the crowd
"Come home with me, little Matty Groves, come home with me tonight
Come home with me, little Matty Groves, and sleep with me till light"
"Oh, I can't come home, I won't come home and sleep with you tonight
By the rings on your fingers I can tell you are my master's wife"
"But if I am Lord Donald's wife, Lord Donald's not at home
He is out in the far cornfields bringing the yearlings home"
And a servant who was standing by and hearing what was said
He swore Lord Donald he would know before the sun would set
And in his hurry to carry the news, he bent his breast and ran
And when he came to the broad millstream, he took off his shoes and he swam
Little Matty Groves, he lay down and took a little sleep
When he awoke, Lord Donald was standing at his feet
Saying "How do you like my feather bed and how do you like my sheets
How do you like my lady who lies in your arms asleep?"
"Oh, well I like your feather bed and well I like your sheets
But better I like your lady gay who lies in my arms asleep"
"Well, get up, get up, " Lord Donald cried, "get up as quick as you can
It'll never be said in fair England that I slew a naked man"
"Oh, I can't get up, I won't get up, I can't get up for my life
For you have two long beaten swords and I not a pocket knife"
"Well it's true I have two beaten swords and they cost me deep in the purse
But you will have the better of them and I will have the worse
And you will strike the very first blow and strike it like a man
I will strike the very next blow and I'll kill you if I can"
So Matty struck the very first blow and he hurt Lord Donald sore
Lord Donald struck the very next blow and Matty struck no more
And then Lord Donald took his wife and he sat her on his knee
Saying "Who do you like the best of us, Matty Groves or me?"
And then up spoke his own dear wife, never heard to speak so free
"I'd rather a kiss from dead Matty's lips than you or your finery"
Lord Donald he jumped up and loudly he did bawl
He struck his wife right through the heart and pinned her against the wall
"A grave, a grave, " Lord Donald cried, "to put these lovers in
But bury my lady at the top for she was of noble kin"

[Norton]

Fairport Convention

Never heard of them.

[harrybarracuda]

The legend that was Clarence "Frogman" Henry.

[harrybarracuda]

[david44]

Fave frogman Charles Trenet of course, Adieu Charlo'

[harrybarracuda]

Peter Higgs, Nobel Prize-winning physicist who discovered Higgs boson, dies at 94




The “truly gifted scientist” behind the concept of the subatomic particle the Higgs boson, Professor Peter Higgs, has died aged 94.

Professor Higgs predicted of the existence of a new particle – the so-called Higgs boson – in 1964.

The particle’s existence would not be confirmed for almost half a century, with experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN finally confirming his theory in 2012.

Prof Higgs, emeritus professor at Edinburgh University, was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for this work in 2013, along with Francois Englert.

Just a moment...

[david44]

Homeric work predicted by of all people Homer

The Higgs Boson particle - that so-called 'God Particle' (sigh) which gives other particles mass - was predicted by Professor Peter Higgs in 1964 et al, and its existence first confirmed in 2013 by the team at CERN.

And 14 years earlier, Homer Simpson got there first.

According to Dr Simon Singh, author of ‘The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets’, the mass of the Higgs Boson particle was almost exactly predicted in 1998 episode of the cartoon sitcom.







Singh told the Independent that in the episode “The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace”, Homer writes an equation on a blackboard which — if extrapolated — corresponds almost exactly to the mass of the particle.

And it’s not an accident. Maths jokes are a regular feature of the Simpsons, referencing theories both in the public eye and obscure.

“That equation predicts the mass of the Higgs boson” Singh told the paper. “If you work it out, you get the mass of a Higgs boson that’s only a bit larger than the nano-mass of a Higgs boson actually is. It’s kind of amazing as Homer makes this prediction 14 years before it was discovered.”

[harrybarracuda]

OJ Simpson dead at 76 from cancer.

OJ Simpson dead from cancer at 76

[beachbound]

^
Should be in a new thread.
Rest In Hell Infamous Person Thread.

[helge]

Trial was 30 years ago !

How time flies

Bye OJ

Mark Fuhrman gave you the best years of your life.

Counter productive racism at its best.

(almost Jeff'ish, that was )

[david44]

Counter productive racism at its best.

(almost Jeff'ish, that was

[beachbound]

Mark Fuhrman gave you the best years of your life

Furman certainly didn’t help the case, but the Rodney King incident was his real savior. If that had never happened, OJ would have rotted in jail.

[harrybarracuda]

Furman certainly didn’t help the case, but the Rodney King incident was his real savior. If that had never happened, OJ would have rotted in jail.

Furman destroyed the case.

That and an inept prosecutor.

FFS if you ever wanted reasonable doubt, an investigating officer handling evidence who said "The only good nigger is a dead nigger" is pretty well it.

That and the glove fiasco.

[beachbound]

No doubt, Mark Furman was/is a raging racist, and the prosecutors made numerous mistakes, throughout the trial. But there was more than enough evidence to convict Simpson. Again, with the wounds of the Rodney King fiasco still festering in Los Angeles, and the fact that eight of the 12 jurors were black, made for an easy acquittal.

[harrybarracuda]

No doubt, Mark Furman was/is a raging racist, and the prosecutors made numerous mistakes, throughout the trial. But there was more than enough evidence to convict Simpson

While Rodney King meant a conviction would probably have started a riot, the defence strategy was nonetheless to create doubt over the evidence, and a racist cop being in charge of it was exactly what they needed. Couple that with "The glove don't fit" and you've created all the doubt you need.

And reasonable doubt is all you need to avoid a conviction.

He would have got off regardless.

Shapiro and Cochran did a superb job, and Marcia Clarke was out of her depth.

[harrybarracuda]

Designer Roberto Cavalli, 83

Italian fashion icon Roberto Cavalli dies at 83 - UPI.com

[beachbound]

While Rodney King meant a conviction would probably have started a riot, the defence strategy was nonetheless to create doubt over the evidence, and a racist cop being in charge of it was exactly what they needed. Couple that with "The glove don't fit" and you've created all the doubt you need.

And reasonable doubt is all you need to avoid a conviction.

He would have got off regardless.

Shapiro and Cochran did a superb job, and Marcia Clarke was out of her depth.

Thanks for clearing that up, Perry Mason.

Tell us, is there any world event over the past 40 years, that you didn’t have your finger on the pulse of?

[harrybarracuda]

Thanks for clearing that up, Perry Mason.

Tell us, is there any world event over the past 40 years, that you didn’t have your finger on the pulse of?

It's not my fault you're obsessed with Rodney King.

Can I rub it in? I went to the courthouse in the middle of the trial and have an old school printed selfie with Robert Shapiro somewhere.

[beachbound]

I went to the courthouse in the middle of the trial and have an old school printed selfie with Robert Shapiro somewhere.

Sure thing, Matlock.
And I guess you were also in the back of the Bronco, blowing OJ.

Can you fill us in on who really killed ​JonBenét, and where Hoffa buried?

[misskit]

World's oldest conjoined twins, Lori and George Schappell, die at age 62

Lori and George Schappell, the world’s oldest living conjoined twins, have died.


The twins passed away on April 7 of undisclosed causes, according to joint obituaries published by Leibensperger Funeral Homes in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.


The Schappell twins were born in Pennsylvania on Sept. 18, 1961. The pair, who were 62 years and 202 days old, held the record for the oldest living conjoined twins, according to the Guinness World Records website.


Prior to George Schappell’s coming out as transgender later in 2007, the twins also held the record for oldest female conjoined twins ever. After George Schappell came out, they became the first set of same-sex conjoined twins to identify as different genders, the site explained.


The Schappell twins were craniopagus twins, meaning they lived with partially fused skulls. The pair shared vital blood vessels and 30% of their brains, according to Guinness. They were the rarest form of conjoined twinning, representing only 2-6% of cases.


The twins were conjoined by the forehead facing in opposite directions and were unable to see each other, according to a 2005 profile about the Schappell siblings in New York.


Surgeries to separate conjoined twins like themselves were not possible when the Schappells were born, not that they ever wanted to be separated.


“I don’t believe in separation,” Lori Schappell told the Los Angeles Times in 2002. “I think you are messing with God’s work.”


Despite their physical togetherness, the twins lived very different lives.


Lori Schappell was able to walk while her brother, who was four inches shorter, had been diagnosed with spina bifida and couldn’t walk on his own, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2002. So, Lori Schappell pushed her sibling around on a movable stool wherever they went.


George Schappell worked for years as a professional country singer, even booking gigs overseas. Lori Schappell earned a college degree and worked in a hospital. While Lori Schappell packed medical instruments, George would sit quietly with a book, the pair told the Los Angeles Times.

As they grew up together, the pair figured out creative ways to accommodate each other. While Lori Schappell liked to shower in the evening, her brother preferred to shower at the start of each day. They came up with a technique that allowed one twin to bathe while the other stayed dry.


“Normal is whatever you make of it, but we’re very happy,” Lori Schappelltold the Los Angeles Times. “It all comes down to compromise. If more people in life did that, the world would be a better place.”


The twins lived the first 24 years of their lives in an institution for mentally disabled people after their “frightened and confused parents” placed them there, according to the New York magazine profile.


They were able to leave the institution only after the wife of former Pennsylvania governor Richard Thornburgh helped prove to state officials that they did not suffer intellectual disabilities, the magazine reported.


The twins later moved into a high-rise apartment designed for the elderly in Reading, Pennsylvania, where they lived on their own.


The Schappell twins were featured in several television documentaries and talk shows.


They also acted in a 2004 episode of “Nip/Tuck,” portraying fictional conjoined twins Rose and Raven Rosenberg, according to IMDB.com.

World's oldest conjoined twins, Lori and George Schappell, die at age 62

[Salsa dancer]

There's a surprise twist in that story.

In 2007, George famously announced his decision to transition, making them the world’s first conjoined twins to identify as different genders. They had different rooms in their Pennsylvania apartment and switched up their sleeping arrangements each night, showering at different times and learning to “ignore each other” when they weren’t getting along or the situation demanded it, Lori noted in the 2002 interview.

“Normal is whatever you make of it, but we’re very happy,” she said.

Conjoined Twins Lori and George Schappell, Who Defied the Odds Since Birth, Dead at 62

[misskit]

It will be interesting to learn what killed them at 62.